QuickFind

You are here

Cotton RiverCare is a program that promotes and supports responsible management of riverine areas within cotton growing regions of Australia. In this blog post, cotton grower Mark Palfreyman talks water rats!

We are all very excited as we recently had the pleasure of seeing a 'rakali' or water rat (Hydromys chrysogaster) on our farm. We have been trying to get this photo for a few days but he is well camouflaged against the debris in the river and is a very fast swimmer! Cute little guy, my wife and the kids named him Templeton.

A zoology degree is not a traditional qualification for a cotton grower, but for Southern QLD grower Mark Palfreyman it provides an ideal grounding for his new role as national Cotton RiverCare champion.

The role forms part of the newly launched Cotton RiverCare program, which aims to support the responsible management of riverine areas within Australia’s cotton growing regions.

Evaluating and interpreting layers of climate information, weather acronyms and colour charts at key decision making times can be a daunting prospect. Some growers have their favourite weather sites on which they base their decisions, while others prefer to watch for a flock of black cockatoos on the wing or a cactus flowering to see if rain is coming. Others only believe forecast rain when the gutters are running water. Those that have been burnt by a forecast in the planning stage have an inherent distrust in weather predictive systems.

Alternative and renewable energy sources, including solar for powering cotton production, were hot topics at this week’s (24 and 25 February) CottonInfo Big Days Out at St George, QLD and Gunnedah, NSW.

The days attracted 60 and 80 participants respectively and visitors were keen to hear from experienced growers, energy researchers, auditors, consultants and system providers.

Ian and Anne Brimblecombe hosted the first day at their St George farm, “Burgorah”, while day two was on Scott Morgan’s property “Kensal Green”, Gunnedah.

An energy expenditure that had been climbing by around 10 per cent per year coupled with concerns about climate change have prompted St George cotton irrigators Ian and Anne Brimblecombe, “Burgorah”, to install solar panels which generate 100kW of electricity.

Their 400 250-watt solar panels will soon be joined by a supplementary bank of panels which will enable a 70kW fixed-speed pump to be powered by solar alone on sunny days.

Gunnedah farmer Scott Morgan (pictured) has slashed the amount of money he spends on electricity used to irrigate cotton on his property, “Kensal Green”, by investing in solar and by reducing the amount of energy he uses to pump water for his crops.

Almost 20 years ago, the Macquarie Cotton Growers Association, in conjunction with the Narromine and Warren Shire Councils and the NSW DPI Fisheries began the annual release of fingerlings into the Macquarie River, to help build the population of native fish.

The Department of Environment has been busy over the last year making new greenhouse gas emissions reduction methods available for use under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). A number of these are designed to benefit the farming sector, including a ‘fertiliser efficiency in irrigated cotton’ method released in December 2014.